The charge has been dropped against Bryan Boggis. He is seen holding the Olympic Torch before slipping on his kit as part of the Legends team at Cambridge United. Picture supplied

Archant

Prosecutors have dropped the case against a former Gorleston professional footballer who had been reported by police for gross indecency with a boy following an investigation looking at alleged historic sex offences in football.

On Thursday the Crown Prosecution Service at Cambridge Crown Court said it would offer no evidence against Bryan Boggis, 76 and of Suffield Road, Gorleston.

Mr Boggis had been charged with gross decency with a boy under 14 with the alleged offence said to have happened between July 1968 and June 1970 in Cambridgeshire.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it offered no evidence following a review after the acquittal of another former footballer Eric Cooper in December after a related trial in Cambridge Crown Court over allegations of indecent assault against a boy.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: “We keep all cases under continuous review. Following the acquittal of Eric Cooper, in a related trial in December 2017, prosecutors undertook a review and decided there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction (against Mr Boggis).

“We made the decision to offer no evidence and did so at a hearing yesterday at Cambridge Crown Court.”

Mr Boggis began playing for Gorleston as a 15-year-old.

At 17 he was spotted by a scout and signed for Aston Villa. He went on to play for Crystal Palace before signing for Cambridge United as a right back.

Mr Boggis went on to become manager for Wisbech Town from October 1967 to May 1970 and then Stevenage Athletic.

After leaving the world of football he becoming licensee of a number of pubs in the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston area.